The growing number of community-dwelling older adults and the increased risks of adverse health events that accompany ageing, call for health promotion interventions. Nurses often lead these interventions. The views and experiences of older adults participating in these interventions have rarely been studied. To understand the views of targeted older adults, qualitative studies are essential. The aim of this study was to investigate the views and experiences of older adults on their participation in a nurse-led intervention, taking into account their views on healthy aging. Methods In a qualitative study, nineteen Dutch older adults aged 62 to 92 years participated in semi-structured interviews. These were transcribed verbatim and coded with the Qualitative Data Analysis Miner software program. The Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven was used for data analysis. Results Based on the analysis of the interviews, the following main themes emerged from the data reflecting the experiences of the participants: 1) awareness of aging, 2) experienced interaction with the nurse, and 3) perception of the consultations as a check-up and/or personal support. Conclusions This study underscores the importance of nurse-led interventions that match older adults’ personal views concerning healthy living, and their views and experiences concerning these interventions. Older adults’ holistic views of healthy living were not always assessed and valued by the nurses. Also, our study shows a wide variety of expectations, views and experiences among the participating older adults. This implies that health professionals should adjust their working and communication methods to the older adult’s views on life.

There is a need to develop diagnostic and analytical tools that allow noninvasive monitoring of bacterial growth and dissemination in vivo. For such cell-tracking studies to hold translational value to controlled human infections, in which volunteers are experimentally colonized, they should not require genetic modification, and they should allow tracking over a number of replication cycles. To gauge if an antimicrobial peptide tracer, 99m Tc-UBI 29-41 -Cy5, which contains both a fluorescent and a radioactive moiety, could be used for such in vivo bacterial tracking, we performed longitudinal imaging of a thigh-muscle infection with 99m Tc-UBI 29-41 -Cy5-labeled Staphylococcus aureus. Mice were imaged using SPECT and fluorescence-imaging modalities at various intervals during a 28 h period. Biodistribution analyses were performed to quantitate radioactivity in the abscess and other tissues. SPECT and fluorescence imaging in mice showed clear retention of the 99m Tc-UBI 29-41 -Cy5-labeled bacteria following inoculation in the thigh muscle. Despite bacterial replication, the signal intensity in the abscess only modestly decreased within a 28 h period: 52% of the total injected radioactivity per gram of tissue (%ID/g) at 4 h postinfection (pi) versus 44%ID/g at 28 h pi (15% decrease). After inoculation, a portion of the bacteria disseminated from the abscess, and S. aureus cultures were obtained from radioactive urine samples. Bacterial staining with 99m Tc-UBI 29-41 -Cy5 allowed noninvasive bacterial-cell tracking during a 28 h period. Given the versatility of the presented bacterial-tracking method, we believe that this concept could pave the way for precise imaging capabilities during controlled-human-infection studies.

What is the role of manure processing in the transition to a circular economy? To this end, it is first of all important to get a clear picture of what manure processing is and how (manure) policy influences this. Current manure processing fits within a system that is primarily focused on solving current problems. However, the question is whether there is a role for manure processing if the transition to a circular economy is more advanced and, if so, what that role is.

Background: Today, both radioactive SPECT and PET imaging radiopharmaceuticals are used for clinical diagnosis of bacterial infections. Due to the possible applications in image-guided surgery, fluorescent imaging of infections has gained interest. We here present the highlights and recent developments in the use of fluorescence imaging for bacterial infections. In this overview, we also include the latest developments in multimodal bacterial imaging strategies that combine radioactive and fluorescent imaging. Based on this literature, we present our future perspectives for the field including the translational potential. Methods: In the current review, we complement earlier reports with the most recent fluorescent and multimodal radiopharmaceuticals for bacterial infection imaging. Where possible, in this review, the chemical structure of the compounds and clinical images were shown. Results: A total of 35 out of 77 original articles on pre-clinical and clinical imaging of bacterial infections with fluorescent tracers and multimodality radiopharmaceuticals were included for reviewing. Conclusion: In our view, the highest translational potential lies with compounds that are based on targeting vectors that are specific for bacteria: e.g., fluorescently labelled UBI 29–41 , polymyxin B, vancomycin, ZnDPA and a M. tuberculosis-specific β-lactamase-cleavable linker CNIP800. Multimodal concepts using dually labelled UBI 29–41 , vancomycin, and ZnDPA help connect optical imaging to the more traditional use of radiopharmaceuticals in infectious diseases. Multimodal bacterial imaging is a promising strategy not only to diagnose bacterial infections but also to evaluate the effectivity of surgical treatment for infections.

We know that patterns of domestic consumption are situated within broader systems of provision and that home appliances like the fridge freezer bridge between practices of cooking, shopping and eating, on one hand, and increasingly global systems of food production, distribution and diet on the other. In analysing the uses of fridge freezers in Hanoi and Bangkok as expressions, in microcosm, of complex and evolving processes of urbanisation and food provisioning, this article provides new insight into how specific configurations, dependencies and patterns of consumption take hold and how they vary and change. Our analysis of systems and practices in flux has the dual function of showing how household strategies reflect and contribute to more extensive transformations, and of demonstrating how these are shaped by ongoing tensions and relations between new and established forms of urban food supply and associated concepts of freshness and safety. The result is a subtle account of the multiple routes through which consumer ‘needs’ evolve.

Ticks are one of the principal arthropod vectors of human and animal infectious diseases. Whereas the prevalence of tick-borne encephalitis virus in ticks in Europe is well studied, there is less information available on the prevalence of the other tick-borne viruses (TBVs) existing worldwide. The aim of this study was to improve the epidemiological survey tools of TBVs by the development of an efficient high-throughput test to screen a wide range of viruses in ticks. In this study, we developed a new high-throughput virus-detection assay based on parallel real-time PCRs on a microfluidic system, and used it to perform a large scale epidemiological survey screening for the presence of 21 TBVs in 18 135 nymphs of Ixodes ricinus collected from five European countries. This extensive investigation has (i) evaluated the prevalence of four viruses present in the collected ticks, (ii) allowed the identification of viruses in regions where they were previously undetected. In conclusion, we have demonstrated the capabilities of this new screening method that allows the detection of numerous TBVs in a large number of ticks. This tool represents a powerful and rapid system for TBVs surveillance in Europe and could be easily customized to assess viral emergence.

Background: The metabolite composition of cow milk is dependent on a large variety of animal associated factors including diet, genotype and gut microbiome composition. The objective of this study was to investigate changes in cow milk polar metabolite composition resulting from dietary and DGAT1 (Diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 1) genotype perturbations. Methods and Results: Cows were fed a standard diet and a diet supplemented with (poly)unsaturated fatty acids (experimental diet) for ten weeks. Metabolite profiles were determined using 1H NMR (1-Hydrogen Nuclear magnetic resonance) technology. The results showed that the diet affected the polar metabolite composition of milk via the metabolism of the cow and via the metabolism of the gut and rumen microbiota. The experimental diet reduced the metabolic rate, especially the energy metabolism and the amino-sugar and amino acid metabolism, of the cows. Conclusion: Our results suggests the DGAT1 genotype affects both the diet related polar metabolite metabolism of the cow as well as that of the rumen microbiota. Milk metabolite levels in animals with more DGAT1 A-alleles were higher than milk metabolite levels in animals with more K-alleles.

Recognition of the preclinical stages of metabolic diseases such as diabetes helps to prevent full development of the disease. In our research, we alter the diet composition of pigs to create a model of human metabolic disease. The objective of the current study was to identify plasma proteins and biologic mechanisms that differed in expression between pigs fed a 'cafeteria diet' (considered unhealthy; high in saturated fats) and those fed a 'Mediterranean diet' (considered healthy; high in unsaturated fats). Pigs fed the cafeteria diet showed increased plasma levels of proteins related to LDL ('bad cholesterol'), immune processes, blood clotting, and metal binding. The Mediterranean diet was associated with increased plasma quantities of proteins associated HDL particles ('good cholesterol'), binding of LDL particles, regulation of immune processes, and glycolysis. Pigs fed a cafeteria diet showed molecular signs of diabetes and atherosclerosis-even in the absence of clinical symptoms-which seemed to protect against the development of metabolic disorders. The current results suggest potential biomarkers of the early onset of metabolic syndromes. These biomarkers can help to reveal specific metabolic changes that precede the onset of diabetes, thus enabling the initiation of patient-specific interventions early during pathophysiologic development.

In the context of the development towards nature-inclusive agriculture, the relationship between the costs and benefits of management of natural areas by Staatsbosbeheer (national forest service) in conjunction with nature-inclusive measures on individual farmland areas was investigated. The analysis was completed for two representative dairy farms and a sample farm for suckler cows. The analysis reveals that, when the proportion of nature-inclusive agriculture increases, it becomes economically attractive for beef farmers to lease a larger area of natural grassland in order to compensate for the decrease of individual roughage production as a result of the nature-inclusive agricultural measures. Additionally, the factors of success or failure in the management of a profitable business were outlined in a qualitative analysis. Interviews support the insights gained from the model analysis in that the lease costs, the agricultural utility value, and the absent need for investment play an important role from a business economy standpoint in the optimum size of leased natural grassland in conjunction with nature-inclusive agriculture.

Rapidly changing situations allow for insight into how infrastructures trigger the emergence, disappearance and transformation of specific practices, and of how these developments are, in turn, important for infrastructural configurations. This chapter explores features of this infrastructure-practice dynamic through two village-level case studies of rural electrification in Thailand and Laos. In both cases, different ‘layers’ of electricity infrastructure entered the villages in time frames of a few decades. In-depth fieldwork provides insight into how infrastructures, practices and demand co-evolved in these two cases. Specifically, the chapter examines the emergence and development of new and ‘electrified’ practices, such as watching television and lighting. The cases illustrate that the consequences of electrification are sometimes mediated by pre-existing material arrangements or by their absence, and that these consequences spill over into various aspects of life. By considering systems and politics of provision alongside shifting relations between variously electrified practices, the chapter bridges between concepts associated with socio-technical innovation, with political ecology, and with accounts of emerging complexes of social practice. It shows that systems and technologies of supply are not simply outcomes or expressions of ‘large’ political-economic forces, but are constituted and reproduced through the practices of different stakeholders.